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Looking for general rebreather advise

Hi all! At the moment, I donít dive a rebreather yet. I am considering switching to a rebreather because I believe it adds safety on deep wreck dives due to more available gas and a lower task load compared to adding more and more bottom- and deco stages in OC.
With that in mind I am trying to do some research on what kind of rebreather would suit me best. Hopefully you can give me some tips or point out potential oversights in my considerations. Here are my thoughts:

- - Deep dives require sufficient bailout. If I have to go back to OC to go up to 20 meters and then do the rest of the deco I will need 2-3 ALU80ís for bailout. With longer runtimes, this could even increase.

- - Since I already have doubles, wings, stages etc. it seems to make sense to add to that platform instead of replacing it. I am thinking that a D12 with DIL on my back would provide more than enough DIL and can work as bailout as well. Combine that with a ALU40 for O2 (can also be used for the last deco stops in case of bailout) and one or two ALU80 with 50% and a QC for the breather(for deco from 20m in case of bailout) would give me a setup that allows me to add a rebreather to my regular setup when needed, keep a similar equipment load, have additional safety because of the gas, have ample redundancy and is relatively travel friendly (D12s and ALU80 are everywhere, just bring the rebreather plug it in and youíre done).

- - This leads me to think I should look for a sidemount model. On one hand, I like the simplicity of a PSCR (like the RB80). One the other hand, I like the idea of idiot proofness some eCCRs (such as the Poseidon7) seem to offer. Even though at the moment it seems a gas extender would do the trick for me, in the long run I think eCCR is the option I like most. The SF2 seems to be a model that checkís most (if not all) of my boxes.

- - The SF2 and training are available in my region (Netherlands) and seems flexible enough to adapt if I ever would want to.

This leads me to think the SF2 is a rebreather I should take into consideration. However, since it is a rather expensive toy, I would like to make an informed decision. Could you please comment on my logic? Does it make some sense, do I forget something really obvious, is there a far better strategy etc?

Why do you want to go CCR? Plenty of reasons, mine was I just wanted to, and luckily didn't have to cost justify, and I don't regret it, great way to dive.

Don't think about all BO possibilities, you're going to be 100+ hours away from that, you'll be starting easy with single BO. Resale value is good on most units, so don't think you can go too wrong, find a good instructor and discuss with them.

Re: Looking for general rebreather advise

The 2 rebreathers you mentioned are so completely opposite in the spectrum of rebreather philosophy that the in-betweens are just about every other rebreather out there. I'm with Topper on this. You are way over thinking the details without really an understanding of the broad strokes.
Buy a rebreather somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. My recommendation would be a meg but there are lots of good units out there these days. I don't consider the Poseidon one of them and I am an instructor on that unit. I don't see an RB 80 a good candidate as it is designed for a very specific type of diving. Go out and dive whatever rebreather you choose then learn what tanks to use and how they best work with your needs.

Re: Looking for general rebreather advise

Hi guys, thank you for your input. I fully admit i haven't a clue where to start or what to ask, so this feedback is great to use as a starting point.
And yes, I also know the rebreathers i mentioned are completely different. That kinda is my point, I want to add additional safety (gas / time) to long deep dives and a rebreather seems to be a good (the best?) way to do that. What model of rebreather on the other hand is a different and bigger puzzle.

It seems to be a bit of a chicken and egg kinda thing; to be able to ask some proper questions, you need to have a better understanding. The better understanding comes with experience and training, and for the training you need to commit to rather specific model so you kinda need to pick something to know what to ask so you can actually pick
I might be overthinking this slightly...

Then again, the argument "you can't go too wrong, so go with something in the middle" is a good point. It should allow me to make some more informed decisions later on.

The SF2 seems to be a nice in the middle model AND is used by a friendof mine (he is an instructor on the 7, so should be able to tell me more about both). Are there any questions i definitely should ask?

This configuration allows you to do things like this:
1) When traveling light, only grab your wing/harness/regs/tank straps and go dive on a cattle boat with 1 or 2 al80's (cross sling the al80 under you if you need to).

2) Same config, but grab 2 al40's and stay shallow - Even more fun with a scooter.

3) Same config but add 2 al80s (deep bailout), 1 al40 under your left arm (ean50 or hotter) and 1 Meg and do some 300' dives.

4) Same config as 3 but add 2 more tail mounted al80's, 1 al40 under your right arm (now you have 2 al80's sidemount, 2 al80's tail mounted, and 2 al40's under your side mount) and drop some stages from the dpv as you go for a very longggg swim.

In the end, I settled on this configuration because of diving all over the place and in many different configurations. Nothing to re-learn, and everything is standardized.

This configuration allows you to do things like this:
1) When traveling light, only grab your wing/harness/regs/tank straps and go dive on a cattle boat with 1 or 2 al80's (cross sling the al80 under you if you need to).

2) Same config, but grab 2 al40's and stay shallow - Even more fun with a scooter.

3) Same config but add 2 al80s (deep bailout), 1 al40 under your left arm (ean50 or hotter) and 1 Meg and do some 300' dives.

4) Same config as 3 but add 2 more tail mounted al80's, 1 al40 under your right arm (now you have 2 al80's sidemount, 2 al80's tail mounted, and 2 al40's under your side mount) and drop some stages from the dpv as you go for a very longggg swim.

In the end, I settled on this configuration because of diving all over the place and in many different configurations. Nothing to re-learn, and everything is standardized.

which sidemount rig do you prefer and why?

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Originally Posted by kwinter

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Originally Posted by kwinter

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